[Antistrophe.

My curse, my curse upon him,

That man whom pity held in the wilderness,

Who saved the feet alive from the blood-fetter

And loosed the barb thereof!

That babe—what grace was done him,

Had he died shelterless,

He had not laid on himself this grief to bear,

And all who gave him love.

Leader.

I, too, O Friend, I had been happier.

Oedipus.

Found not the way to his father’s blood, nor shaken

The world’s scorn on his mother,

The child and the groom withal;

But now, of murderers born, of God forsaken,

Mine own sons’ brother;

All this, and if aught can fall

Upon man more perilous

And elder in sin, lo, all

Is the portion of Oedipus.

Leader.

How shall I hold this counsel of thy mind

True? Thou wert better dead than living blind.

Oedipus.

That this deed is not well and wisely wrought

Thou shalt not show me; therefore school me not.

Think, with what eyes hereafter in the place

Of shadows could I see my father’s face,

Or my poor mother’s? Both of whom this hand

Hath wronged too deep for man to understand.

Or children—born as mine were born, to see

Their shapes should bring me joy? Great God!

To me

There is no joy in city nor in tower

Nor temple, from all whom, in this mine hour,

I that was chief in Thebes alone, and ate

The King’s bread, I have made me separate

For ever. Mine own lips have bid the land

Cast from it one so evil, one whose hand

To sin was dedicate, whom God hath shown

Birth-branded … and my blood the dead King’s own!

All this myself have proved. And can I then

Look with straight eyes into the eyes of men?

I trow not. Nay, if any stop there were

To dam this fount that welleth in mine ear

For hearing, I had never blenched nor stayed

Till this vile shell were all one dungeon made,

Dark, without sound. ’Tis thus the mind would fain

Find peace, self-prisoned from a world of pain.

O wild Kithairon, why was it thy will

To save me? Why not take me quick and kill,

Kill, before ever I could make men know

The thing I am, the thing from which I grow?

Thou dead King, Polybus, thou city wall

Of Corinth, thou old castle I did call

My father’s, what a life did ye begin,

What splendour rotted by the worm within,

When ye bred me! O Crossing of the Roads,

O secret glen and dusk of crowding woods,

O narrow footpath creeping to the brink

Where meet the Three! I gave you blood to drink

Do ye remember? ’Twas my life- blood, hot

From mine own father’s heart. Have ye forgot

What deed I did among you, and what new

And direr deed I fled from you to do?

O flesh, horror of flesh! …

But what is shame

To do should not be spoken. In God’s name,

Take me somewhere far off and cover me

From sight, or slay, or cast me to the sea

Where never eye may see me any more.

What? Do ye fear to touch a man so sore

Stricken? Nay, tremble not. My misery

Is mine, and shall be borne by none but me.

Leader.

Lo, yonder comes for answer to thy prayer

Creon, to do and to decree. The care

Of all our land is his, now thou art weak.

Oedipus.

Alas, what word to Creon can I speak,

How make him trust me more? He hath seen of late

So vile a heart in me, so full of hate.

Enter Creon.

Creon.

Not to make laughter, Oedipus, nor cast

Against thee any evil of the past

I seek thee, but … Ah God! ye ministers,

Have ye no hearts? Or if for man there stirs

No pity in you, fear at least to call

Stain on our Lord the Sun, who feedeth all;

Nor show in nakedness a horror such

As this, which never mother Earth may touch,

Nor God’s clean rain nor sunlight. Quick within!

Guide him.—The ills that in a house have been

They of the house alone should know or hear.

Oedipus.

In God’s name, since thou hast undone the fear

Within me, coming thus, all nobleness,

To one so vile, grant me one only grace.

For thy sake more I crave it than mine own.

Creon.

Let me first hear what grace thou wouldst be shown.

Oedipus.

Cast me from Thebes … now, quick … where none may see

My visage more, nor mingle words with me.